FLM 

2015 

043104 
































































































































































































I 













































































A Day of Mourning. 


THE NATION 


WEEPING FOR ITS DEAD. 





























*\ 














. 




f 

• ' 














































































s 

































" 










. 


























<£Ije Illation Sleeping for its Jeatr. 


OBSERVANCES 

AT 

I 

SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, 
11 


ON 


Ipresikttt Lincolns Jfmtcral 



Wednesday, April 19 , 1865 , 


INCLUDING 


DR. HOLLAND’S EULOGY. 


FROM THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN’S REPORT. 


SPRINGFIELD, MASS. : 

SAMUEL BOWLES k GO.: L. J. POWERS. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 

WAS 

ASSASSINATED APRIL 14, 

AND 

Died April 15 , 1865 . 








The National Mourning. 


The observance of Wednesday was in most complete harmony 
with the spirit which fills every loyal American heart. The day 
was devoted to the expression of grief for the loss of him who was 
to us all a friend, a guide, a father. Proclamations enjoining the 
suspension of business were hardly necessary, for the great heart of 
the republic throbbed in pain and anguish, and with such a heart¬ 
ache none could work with head or hands. With one accord the 
whole busy work of the nation stood still, and the closed shops and 
warehouses, and the symbols of mourning that marked almost every 
building, public and private, throughout the land, expressed truly, 
yet feebly, the sorrow that weighed upon all. There was no restric¬ 
tion as to rank or nationality, The humblest laborer and the highest 
ruler, and adopted as well as native citizens, shared the same grief 
and wept from the same cause. In every city and town of promi¬ 
nence, services in sympathy with the immediate funeral services at 
Washington were held, and no secular day since the foundation of 
our government, not even when Washington, the hero of our first 
revolution, was carried to the tomb, has been marked with such 
general tenderness, such depth of patriotism, such fervent Christian 
feeling. Men worshiped and mourned, Wednesday, who never wor¬ 
shiped or mourned before. All partisan feeling was forgotten and 
ignored, and there were few Americans, none indeed, worthy of the 
name, who had other than the kindest thoughts or most appreciative 
words for our dead President, Abraham Lincoln. The spirit 
which, since Saturday last, has united the nation in the expression 
of its burdening sorrow, will become historic, and will show the 
world that our government is not to be destroyed by armed traitors 
or cowardly assassins. 

The 19th of April was historic before; it is doubly historic now. 
On that day was shed the first blood in the two great war struggles 
which our republic has passed through, and now we have buried on 
that day the costliest sacrifice our country has ever made to secure 
the perpetuity of its government. 


•f' 



Proclamation 


* 


TO THE CITIZENS OP SPRINGFIELD. 

IN OBEDIENCE TO A COMMON FEELING, AND TO THE WISH OF THE NATIONAL AU¬ 
THORITIES AT WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY WILL BE OBSERVED HERE, AS ELSEWHERE, 
DOUBTLESS THROUGHOUT THE NATION, AS THE FUNERAL DAY OF THE LATE PRESI¬ 
DENT LINCOLN. 

I INVITE THE CITIZENS OF SPRINGFIELD TO CLOSE THEIR PLACES OF BUSINESS 
DURING THAT DAY; TO DISPLAY ALL NATIONAL FLAGS AT HALF MAST; AND TO 
CLOTHE THEIR HOUSES, SHOPS AND STORES WITH THE SYMBOLS OF MOURNING. 

THE BELLS OF THE CITY WILL BE TOLLED AT SUNRISE, AND FROM HALF PAST 
'ELEVEN TO TWELVE, NOON. 

THE CHURCHES WILL BE OPEN AT TWELVE FOR SUCH EXERCISES AS THE PASTORS 
AND SOCIETIES MAY REGARD AS FITTING; AND THE PEOPLE ARE REQUESTED TO AS¬ 
SEMBLE AT THEIR USUAL PLACES OF WORSHIP AND TAKE PART THEREIN. 

AT THREE O’CLOCK THERE WILL BE A GENERAL PUBLIC SERVICE AT THE CITY HALL, 
TO WHICH ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY ARE INVITED. PRAYERS WILL BE OFFERED 
BY ONE OR MORE CLERGYMEN; A BAND AND CHOIR WILL PERFORM APPROPRIATE 
MUSIC, AND A EULOGY UPON PRESIDENT LINCOLN WILL BE DELIVERED BY DR. J. G. 
HOLLAND. 

NO APPEAL CAN BE NECESSARY TO SECURE GENERAL PARTICIPATION AND SYMPATHY 
WITH THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE DAY. THE NATIONAL BITTERNESS IS FELT AS A 
PERSONAL WOE; AND EACH CITIZEN HATH LOST A FRIEND AND GUIDE AND FATHER. 

A. D. BRIGGS, Mayor. 

Springfield, Tuesday, April 18, 18G5. 


r 



President Lincoln’s 


FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


President Lincoln’s funeral day was a solemn day in Spring- 
field, as well as elsewhere throughout the country. The people’s 
love for their lamented president made its observance universal, 
and the soberness on the faces of the thousands who thronged the 
streets or visited every place where the popular grief found utter¬ 
ance, told beyond doubt how sincerely the “ savior of his coun¬ 
try ” was mourned. The demonstration was altogether remarka¬ 
ble and unique in its universality, all classes and especially foreign- 
born residents, joining in it with great unanimity. It was also no¬ 
ticeable for the quietness and order which characterized every por¬ 
tion of it. 

Besides the many and beautiful decorations, alluded to below, 
badges of crape were very generally worn by both sexes. The 
program previously announced was carried out minutely. On the 
armory grounds a salute of thirteen guns was fired at sunrise and 
one of thirty-six at sunset, with half-hour guns during the day. 
The bells were tolled in the morning and for half an hour before 
noon ; and during the latter period a salute of thirty guns was fired 
by the Union battery, Capt. Wells. 

THE DECORATIONS. 

If anything were needed to testify the love the people bore for 
the deceased president, and their inconsolable grief at his death, the 
beautiful decorations which were exhibited upon almost every build- 




6 


president Lincoln’s 


■in i — in 1 1 . I 

ing in the city, would do so most abundantly. There was scarcely 
an edifice on which some symbol of mourning was not placed, while 
many would have been dressed much more elaborately if the mate¬ 
rial could have been obtained. A volume might be filled with a de¬ 
scription of all the tasteful drapings and arrangements of colors 
which were made, but we can notice only some of the more impor¬ 
tant. The Western Railroad and Telegraph Office building was 
profusely festooned with white and black cloth, while upon the cor¬ 
ner was placed a large flag with streamers, the whole being the work 
of Charles O. Russell, assistant superintendent of the Western Rail¬ 
road, with the aid of F. Rouviere, the ladies and others connected 
with the Western Railroad Office. A portion of the interior of the 
Depot was hung in black, and over Mr. Wells’ ticket office there 
was a Goddess of Liberty, appropriately draped. At other places 
in that vicinity—the Connecticut River Railroad Office, Hopkins, 
King & Co.’s, the Massasoit House, Cooley’s Hotel, and the stores 
in Massasoit and Goodrich Blocks,—tasteful exhibitions of black 
were made. Over the entrance to Fort Block was one of the most 
beautiful arrangements of festoons and drapery which was shown in 
the city. Cummings’ and Wilkinson’s Block was also gracefully 
draped, and in front of Wason’s Car Factory was a flag with the 
motto, “ Washington, the father, and Abraham Lincoln, the savior 
of our country.” 

Further down, the stores in Barnes’ Block made exceedingly ap¬ 
propriate displays. In Rockwood’s windows festoons of black were 
contrasted with those of white, and the whole was relieved by a 
tasteful display of the American flag. A portrait of Lincoln draped 
in crape was shown in one of the windows, and this was one of the 
commonest as well as pleasantest features of the decorations through¬ 
out the city. The display at Hallock’s was much admired. There 
was very heavy drapery over the door, which was entirely hid from 
view by other drapings, while in the windows were black and white 
folds. Shedd & McKnight also made a beautiful display. Red, 
white, blue and black were happily contrasted in both door and win¬ 
dows. Norton & McKnight, with the same general features, had in 
one window a portrait of Lincoln, and in another portraits of Lin- 



FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


7 


coin and Washington. Flowers were gracefully arranged and this 
motto exhibited:— 

1776 

FATHER 

and 

SAVIOR 

1865 

D. H. Brigham & Co. had black goods in their windows, flowers 
in an urn, and portraits with the motto “ The nation mourns him.” 
Goldthwait’s store was heavily draped, as was also S. W. Avery’s. 
In Hamilton & Co.’s, besides the usual drapery, there were two 
small alabaster figures holding American flags and an urn containing 
sprigs of willow. One window contained black festoons and a por¬ 
trait of Lincoln. Bartlett and Wilcox made a tasteful display in 
their windows, and the latter had also drapery over his door. The 
Republican Block was festooned with white and black and a profusion 
of small flags were displayed. A. G. Lord’s store was draped heav¬ 
ily, A. E. Foth’s was made noticeable by a large flag and a graceful 
arrangement of black material, and all of the upper windows in the 
yellow block just north of his store were heavily bordered with black. 

But the display which attracted most attention and admiration 
was the one made by Tinkham & Co. In one window was a tall 
monument, on which appeared, in black letters, “A. Lincoln, 16th 
President.” Its base was lavishly decorated with flowers, and red, 
white and blue were displayed on either side and somewhat in the 
background, though the prevailing color of the latter was black. 
The other window contained black drapery almost entirely, but with 
the letters u A. L.” in white. The whole arrangement was very 
tasteful and beautiful. Currier & Hodskins’ windows were also at¬ 
tractive, having among other features a portrait enshrouded in crape, 
and the motto “ The nation mourns the savior of her liberty.” The 
entrance was handsomely draped in black with an American flag 
gracefully looped up behind. The Court street entrance to the 
Hampden House was decorated with white and black in pleasing 
contrast, and a large American flag, deeply bordered with black, was 
displayed. The decorations at the Express Office were very profuse 



8 


president Lincoln’s 


and tasteful, and this motto was over the door: “ The Lord Jehovah 

reigns; the nation still lives.” On Elm street, George Dwight’s 
store was beautifully festooned. 

Among other noticeable displays were those made by Fynchon 
& Lee, a dismasted ship, with a profusion of black drapery ; N. 
Swetland, a marble monument with “ weeping willow ” drooping 
over it, and the motto, “ We mourn our departed chiefC. M. Lee, 
whose windows contained, besides the drapery, the names “ Washing¬ 
ton,” and “ LincolnCowles & Bliss and William M. Collins, 
heavily draped; John Hooker, handsome inside display; Pynchon 
Bank Block, simply and tastefully draped; Bridgman & Whitney, 
white stars on a black background in both windows; Springfield 
Savings Bank and Homer Foot, an elaborate decoration in which 
red, white, blue and black were happily mingled ; the tenants of 
Burt’s Block, handsome festoons of black and white; and J. D. 
Brewer, in whose windows were broad stripes, alternate black and 
white. The exterior of Masonic Hall was festooned and the motto 
exhibited with masonic emblems, “ The memory of his virtues will 
outlive all time.” Upon the Hill there were several very creditable 
displays, prominent among which was Cate & Chapman’s. Many 
private residences, among which were F. A. Brewer’s on Chestnut 
street, and James Parker’s on North Main street, were also draped 
very handsomely. 

THE CHURCH SERVICES AT NOON. 

All of the churches were open at noon and the attendance was 
uniformly large. In most cases the drapery was the same which 
was put up for the previous Sunday, but at the Episcopal and one 
or two other churches, a much more elaborate and elegant display 
was made. The services were more funereal than on the Sabbath, 
(when the national calamity was alluded to, or made the topic of 
discourse in every pulpit,) although the addresses of the clergy 
partook of the same general character, the principal points being 
eulogy of the late president, the great loss the country has sustained in 
his death, the atrocity of the crime, and the lessons to be drawn 
from the calamity. As Rev. Pr. Ide was absent from his pulpit on 




FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


9 


Sunday, his address to the united First and Second Baptist Societies 
was lengthier than those made by most of the other clergymen. He 
could find no parallel in history for such a crime as that which has 
thrown the nation into mourning, except the assassination of William 
the Silent, king of the Netherlands. He could offer no consolation, 
no comfort; there is none. God meant that the people should 
mourn. But the grandeur of goodness, which has made the char¬ 
acter of Lincoln conspicuous for all future time, is in the highest 
degree worthy of emulation. The loss of the president is a judgment 
upon the nation for its self-gratulation, its self-confidence. Humilia¬ 
tion is the great lesson to be learned from it. 

At St. Michael’s church, too, where the president’s death was only 
alluded to on Sunday, Father Galligher declaring that it was too 
soon after the event for him to conquer his emotions, the services 
were of more than usual interest. The church was filled, the Fe¬ 
nians and other societies proceeding to the church in a procession. 
Rev. Father Galligher conducted the brief but impressive ceremo¬ 
nies. He commenced by reading the prayer appointed to be read 
for our rulers, and the 14th chapter of Esther, and then followed 
with a brief address, which for lofty patriotism, genuine faith in and 
love for our institutions, we venture to say was not surpassed in any 
pulpit in any place, during the day. He characterized the occasion 
as the most lamentable that ever brought the American people to¬ 
gether, and declared that if a man living in the United States, of 
whatever nationality, did not lament over President Lincoln’s death, 
he was not worthy to tread the American soil. He gave a brief 
history of President Lincoln’s life, with a touching eulogium on his 
character and services, and closed with some excellent advice to his 
people, all of whom were invited to be present at the City Hall in 
the afternoon. As we listened, we could not help remembering how 
many men of foreign birth, and of the Catholic faith, have gone 
forth to battle and to death in the cause we are engaged in, and 
it is no longer a wonder whence came their inspiration and their 
devotion, if all or many of their spiritual teachers are like Father 
Galligher. St. Michael’s church was decked with appropriate sym¬ 
bols of mourning, and good music added to the interest of the services. 


2 



10 


president Lincoln’s 


THE EXERCISES AT THE CITY HALL. 

Soon after noon people began to gather upon the City Hall steps, 
and the crowd was rapidly augmented, so that by two o’clock, not only 
the steps but the streets around Court Square and most of the square 
itself, were densely covered by human beings. Notwithstanding the 
weariness of waiting the crowd was perfectly orderly—how could it 
be otherwise in the shadow of the great grief which fell on every 
heart? It was not intended to open the hall till half-past two, but the 
pressure became so great, that this time was anticipated, and the hall 
was quickly filled in every available part. Yet the outside crowd, 
continually growing, seemed no smaller than before, and the an¬ 
nouncement that addresses 'would be made from the City Hall steps 
kept it quietly waiting. 

The hall was not draped very freely, as the preparations were not 
made until there was a scarcity of material, but the windows in the 
rear of the platform were decorated very handsomely. The middle 
one was entirely concealed by the black drapery, which was relieved 
by a partial bordering of white. In the center, on a white bracket, 
was a figure of an angel presenting a triumphal wreath. The win¬ 
dows on either side were concealed by flags, which were draped in 
black. The exercises in the hall were begun by the Armory Cornet 
Band performing the beautiful dirge of Rooke—“ Rest, Spirit, Rest.” 
Mayor Briggs, who presided, then made the following appropriate 
speech. 



FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


I 


Mayor’s Address. 


We have met this afternoon, fellow citizens, to pay our 
last tribute of affection and respect to the memory of our 
late president, Abraham Lincoln. In the midst of general 
rejoicing, a great calamity has fallen upon us, and the dear¬ 
est life in all the land is blotted out forever. One week 
ago, thanksgiving, joy and gladness pervaded the whole 
land. The months of doubt and uncertainty had passed 
away, and the days of victory, bringing the long wished 
for, hoped for, prayed for peace had dawned upon us. Four 
years of cruel, bloody war were ended. We had achieved 
that for which more than one million of brave men had left 
their homes and firesides, their every occupation,—the plow, 
the loom, the anvil, the counting-room and the pulpit,—and 
taken up the sword and the bayonet. We had maintained, 
perpetuated, and would transmit to posterity, a glorious 
Union of States, a country rejoicing in universal liberty. 

Notwithstanding our great bereavement, we do not meet 
here to-day as unthankful people. Truly we have great 
reason to be thankful to our Heavenly Father, who has given 
us the series of victories by which the greatest and wicked¬ 
est rebellion the world has ever seen has been crushed ; for 
the means by which those victories have been won ; for the 
list of heroes who have led our armies and fleets ; for 




12 


president Lincoln’s 


Grant and Sherman, for Sheridan and Thomas, for Farragut 
and Porter and Foote ; for the dead Wadsworth and Sum¬ 
ner and Lyon, and others who fell in the thick of the 
fight their faces towards the foe; for the brave men who 
were always ready to follow wherever their great heroes led 
the way ; but above all these are we thankful for the bright 
example and pure life of unselfish devotion of the last 
great martyr to liberty— Abraham Lincoln. 

He was our chosen leader in whom we trusted. When¬ 
ever we have had our reverses—and we have had many in 
the alternate days of success and defeat—so soon as the 
smoke of the conflict had passed away, so that we could 
see clearly, we could always discern his tall form at the helm 
of State, with a strain upon his head and a crushing weight 
upon his heart such as few men could bear—firm for God 
and freedom, for justice and right, never for a moment cast 
down or despondent. When he was urged to withdraw or 
modify his proclamation regarding the protection of colored 
soldiers on one of the darkest days the country has ever 
seen—at a moment when it seemed almost impossible to 
carry the ship of state over the breakers—his clear voice 
rang out with that memorable sentence, “The promise 
having been made, shall be kept,” and we all knew then, if 
we did not know it before, that our leader could be relied 
upon in storm as well as in sunshine. By the emancipation 
proclamation, the most important act of his life—one by 
which the fetters were struck from the limbs of four mil¬ 
lions of human beings—all honest men in this country be¬ 
came free before the law, and slavery, the prime cause of 



FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


3 


this giant rebellion, is among the things of the past. The 
poet Campbell once wrote this couplet:— 

United States, your banner wears 
Two emblems—one of fame ; 

Alas ! the other that it bears 
Reminds me of your shame. 

The white man’s liberty in types 
Stands blazoned by your stars. 

But what’s the meaning of these stripes ? 

They mean your negroes’ scars ! 

However true this might have been when it was written, 
it is true no longer, for our nation’s flag of stars and stripes 
which we love to look upon now more than ever, is the sym¬ 
bol of liberty and freedom wherever it waves. If there was 
ever a stain of blood upon it, the drop of ink in the pen of 
Abraham Lincoln when he signed the great edict of free¬ 
dom, like the tear of the recording angel which fell upon the 
registered oath, has blotted it out forever. To use Mr. Lin¬ 
coln’s own words, “The world will little note nor long 
remember what we say here, but it can never forget” 
what he did “ that the nation shall under God have a new 
birth of freedom, and that governments of the people, by the 
people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” 


After Mayor Briggs’ remarks,. Rev. S. G. Buckingham offered 
prayer, a portion of the 90th psalm was chanted by a choir of male 
voices, an appropriate selection of scripture was read by Rev. Josiah 
Marvin, the band played the “ Dying Christian,” and Dr. J. G. Hol¬ 
land pronounced the following eulogy upon the late and lamented 
president. 


















Dr. Holland’s Eulogy, 


We have assembled to honor the memory of the first 
citizen of the republic. We have come together to say and 
to hear something which shall express our love for him, our 
respect for his character, our high estimation of his ser¬ 
vices, and our grief at his untimely removal from the ex¬ 
alted office to which the voice of a nation had called him. 
Yet the deepest of our thoughts and emotions are always 
dumb. The ocean’s floor has no voice, but on it and under 
it lie the ocean’s treasures. The waves that roll and roar 
above tell no story but their own. Only the surface of the 
soul, like the surface of the sea, is vocal. Deep down 
within every one of our hearts there are thoughts we can¬ 
not speak—emotions that find no language—groanings that 
cannot be uttered. The surprise, the shock, the pity, the 
sense of outrage and of loss, the indignation, the grief, 
which bring us here—which have transformed a nation 
jubilant with hope and triumph into a nation of mourners 
—will find no full expression here. It is all a vain show— 


16 


president Lincoln’s 


these tolling bells, these insignia of sorrow, these dirges, 
this suspension of business, these gatherings of the people, 
these faltering words. The drowning man throws up his 
arms and utters a cry to show that he lives, and is conscious 
of the element which whelms him ; and this is all that we 
can do. 

Therefore, without trying to tell how much we loved him, 
how much we honored him, and how deeply and tenderly 
we mourn his loss, let us briefly trace the reasons why his 
death has made so deep an impression upon us. It is not 
five years since the nation knew but little of Abraham Lin¬ 
coln. We had heard of him as a man much honored by 
the members of a single party—not then dominant—in his 
own state. We had seen something of his work. We 
knew that he was held to be a man of notable and peculiar 
power, and of pure character and life. Indeed, it is doubt¬ 
ful whether the nation knew enough of him to justify the 
selection made by the convention which presented him to 
the country as a candidate for its highest office. To 
this office, however, he was triumphantly elected, and since 
that time' his life has run like a thread of gold through the 
history of the most remarkable period of the nation’s ex¬ 
istence. 

From the first moment of his introduction to national 
notice, he assumed nothing but duty, pretended to nothing 
but integrity, boasted of nothing but the deeds of those 



FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 17 


who served him. On his journey to Washington he freely 
and unaffectedly confessed to those who insisted on hearing 
him speak that he did not understand their interests, but 
hoped to make himself acquainted with them. We had 
never witnessed such frankness, and it must be confessed 
that we were somewhat shocked by it. So simple and art¬ 
less a nature, in so high a place, was so unusual, so unprec¬ 
edented, indeed, that it seemed unadapted to it—incongru¬ 
ous with it. In the society which surrounded him at the 
national capital, embracing in its materials some of the 
most polished persons of our own and other lands, he re¬ 
mained the same unaffected, simple-hearted man. He was 
not polished, and did not pretend to be. He aped no for¬ 
eign airs, assumed no new manners, never presumed any¬ 
thing upon his position, was accessible to all, and preserved 
throughout his official career the transparent, almost boyish 
simplicity that characterized his entrance upon it. 

I do not think that it ever occurred to Mr. Lincoln that 
he was a ruler. More emphatically than any of his pre¬ 
decessors did he regard himself as the servant of the people 
—the instrument selected by the people for the execution 
of their will. He regarded himself as a public servant no 
less when he issued that immortal paper, the proclamation 
of emancipation, than when he sat at City Point, sending 
telegraphic despatches to the country, announcing the prog¬ 
ress of Gen. Grant’s army. In all places, in all circum- 


3 



i8 


president Lincoln’s 


stances, he was still the same unpretending, faithful, loyal 
public servant. 

Unattractive in person, awkward in deportment, unre¬ 
strained in conversation, a story-lover and a story-teller, 
much of the society around him held him in ill-disguised 
contempt. It was not to be expected that fashion and 
courtly usage and conventional dignities and proprieties 
would find themselves at home with him ; but even these 
at last made room for him—for nature’s nobleman, with 
nature’s manners, springing directly from a kind and gentle 
heart. Indeed, it took us all a long time to learn to love 
this homely simplicity, this artlessness, this direct out¬ 
speaking of his simple nature. But we did learn to love 
them at last, and to feel that anything else would be out of 
character with him. We learned that he did everything in 
his own way, and we learned to love the way. It was 
Abraham Lincoln’s way, and Abraham Lincoln was our 
friend. We had taken him into our hearts, and we would 
think of criticising his words and ways no more than those 
of our bosom companions. Nay, we had learned to love 
him for these eccentricities, because they proved to us that 
he was not controlled by convention and precedent, but was 
a law unto himself. 

Another reason why we loved him was that he first loved 
us. I do not believe a ruler ever lived who loved his peo¬ 
ple more sincerely than he. Nay, I do not believe the 




FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


19 


ruler ever lived who loved his enemies so well as he. All 
the insults heaped upon him by the foes of the government 
and the haters of his principles, purposes and person, never 
seemed to generate in him a feeling of revenge, or stir him 
to thoughts and deeds of bitterness. Throughout the ter¬ 
rible war over which he presided with such calmness and 
such power he never lost sight of a golden day, far in 
the indefinite future, when peace and the restoration of 
fraternal harmony should come as the result and reward of 
all his labors. His heart embraced in its catholic sympa¬ 
thies the misguided men who were plotting his destruction, 
and I have no doubt that he could, and did, offer the prayer: 
“ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” 
We felt—we knew—that he suffered a thousand deaths in 
the destruction of the brave lives he had summoned to the 
country’s defense, that he sympathized with every mourner 
in this mourning land, that he called us to no sacrifice 
which he would not gladly have made himself, that his 
heart was with the humble and the oppressed, and that he 
had no higher wish than to see his people peaceful, prosper¬ 
ous and happy. He was one of us—one with us. Circum¬ 
scribed in his affectionate regard by no creed, or party, or 
caste, or color, he received everybody, talked with every¬ 
body, respected everybody, loved everybody, and loved to 
serve everybody. 

We loved and honored him, too, for his honesty and in- 



20 


president Lincoln’s 


tegrity. He seemed incapable of deceit, and insusceptible 
of corruption. With almost unlimited power in his hands, 
possessing the highest confidence of the nation and the en¬ 
thusiastic devotion of the most remarkable army the world 
ever saw, with a wealth of treasure and patronage at his 
disposal without precedent, and surrounded by temptations 
such as few men have the power to resist, he lived and died 
a man with clean hands and a name unsullied even by sus¬ 
picion. Nothing but treasonable malignity accuses him of 
anything more culpable than errors of judgment and mis¬ 
takes of policy. Never, even to save himself from blame, 
did he seek to disguise or conceal the truth. Never to 
serve himself did he sacrifice the interests of his country. 
Faithful among the faithless, true among the false, unselfish 
among the grasping, he walked in his integrity. When he 
spoke we believed him. Unskilled in the arts of diplo¬ 
macy, unpracticed in the ingenuities of indirection and in¬ 
trigue, unlearned in the formalities and processes of official 
intercourse, he took the plain, honest truth in his hands, 
and used it as an honest man. He was guilty of no tricks, 
no double-meaning, no double-dealing. On all occasions, 
in all places, he was “ honest Abraham Lincoln,” with no 
foolish pride that forbade the acknowledgment and correc¬ 
tion of mistakes, and no jealousy that denied to his advisers 
and helpers their meed of praise. The power which this 
patent honesty of character and life exercised upon this na- 



FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


tion has been one of the most remarkable features of the 
history of the time. The complete, earnest, immovable 
faith with which we have trusted his motives, has been 
without a precedent. Men have believed in 'Abraham Lin¬ 
coln who believed in nothing higher. Men have believed 
in him who had lost faith in all around him ; and when he 
died, after demonstrating the value of this personal honesty 
in the administration of the greatest earthly affairs, he had 
become the nation’s idol. 

Again, we loved and honored Mr. Lincoln because he 
was a Christian. I can never think of that toil-worn man, 
rising long before his household, and spending an hour with 
his Maker and his Bible, without tears. In that silent hour 
of communion, he has drawn from the fountain which has 
fed all these qualities that have so won upon our faith and 
love. Ah ! what tears, what prayers, what aspirations, what 
lamentations, what struggles, have been witnessed by the 
four walls of that quiet room! Aye, what food have the 
angels brought him there ! There day after day, while we 
have been sleeping, has he knelt and prayed for us—prayed 
for the country, prayed for victory, prayed for wisdom and 
guidance, prayed for strength for his great mission, prayed 
for the accomplishment of his great purposes. There has 
he found consolation in trial, comfort in defeat and disaster, 
patience in reverses, courage for labor, wisdom in perplexity, 
and peace in the consciousness of God’s approval. The 



22 


president Lincoln’s 


man who was so humble and so brotherly among men, was 
bowed with filial humility before God. It was while stand¬ 
ing among those who had laid down their lives for us, that 
he gave his heart to the One who had laid down his life for 
him. A praying president ? A praying statesman ? A 
praying politician ? A praying commander-in-chief of 
armies and navies ? Our foremost man, our highest man, 
our august ruler, our noblest dignitary, kneeling a simple- 
hearted child before his Heavenly Father ? Oh! when shall 
we see the like of this again ? Why should we not mourn 
the loss of such a man as this ? Why should we not love 
him as we have, loved no other chief magistrate ? He was a 
consecrated man—consecrated to his country and his God. 

Of Mr. Lincoln’s intellect, I have said nothing because 
there was nothing in his intellect that eminently distin¬ 
guished him. An acute and strong common sense, sharply 
individualized by native organization and the peculiar train¬ 
ing to which circumstances had subjected it, was his prom¬ 
inent characteristic. He had a perfect comprehension of 
the leading principles of constitutional government, a 
thorough belief in the right of every innocent man to free¬ 
dom, a homely, straightforward mode of reasoning, consider¬ 
able aptness without elegance of expression, marked readi¬ 
ness of illustration, and quick intuitions that gave him the 
element of shrewdness. How many men there are, in 
power and out of power, of whom much more than this 



FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


23 


might with truthfulness be said ! No, Mr. Lincoln was not 
a remarkable man, intellectually, or, if remarkable, not 
eminently so. Strong without greatness, acute without 
brilliancy, penetrating but not profound, he was in intellect 
an average American in the walk of life in which the 
nation found him. He was loved for the qualities of heart 
and character which I have attributed to him, and not for 
those powers and that culture which distinguish the majority 
of our eminent men. 

In the light of these facts, let us look for a moment at 
what this simple-hearted, loving, honest, Christian man has 
done. Without an extraordinary intellect, without the 
training of the schools, without a wide and generous culture, 
without experience, without the love of two-thirds of the 
nation, without an army or a navy at the beginning, he has 
presided over, and guided to a successful issue, the most 
gigantic national struggle that the history of the world re¬ 
cords. He has called to his aid the best men of the time, 
without a jealous thought that they might overshadow him ; 
he has managed to control their jealousies of each other, 
and compelled them to work harmoniously; he has sifted 
out from weak and infected material men worthy to com¬ 
mand our armies and lead them to victory; he has harmo¬ 
nized conflicting claims, interests and policies, and, in four 
years, has absolutely annihilated the military power of a re¬ 
bellion thirty years in preparation, and having in its armies 



24 


president Lincoln’s 


the whole military population of a third of the republic, and 
at its back the entire resources of the men in arms, and the 
producing power of four million slaves. Before he died, he 
saw the rebellion in the last throes of dissolution, and knew 
that his great work was accomplished. Could any one of 
the great men who surrounded him have done this work as 
well ? If you were doomed to go through it again, would 
you choose for your leader any one of these before Mr. Lin¬ 
coln ? We had a chance to do this, but we did not do it. 
Mr. Lincoln’s election to his second term of office, though 
occurring at a time when doubt and distrust brooded over 
the nation, was carried by overwhelming majorities. Heart 
and head were in the market, but we wisely chose the heart. 

The destruction of the military power of the rebellion 
was Mr. Lincoln’s special work. This he did so thoroughly 
that no chief magistrate will be called upon for centuries to 
repeat the process. He found the nation weak and totter¬ 
ing to destruction. He left it strong—feared and respected 
by the nations of the world. He found it full of personal 
enemies ; he leaves it with such multitudes of friends that 
no one, except at personal peril, dares to insult his memory. 
Through this long night of peril and of sorrow, of faithless¬ 
ness and fear, he has led us into a certain peace—the peace 
for which we have labored and prayed and bled for these 
long, long years. 

Another work for which Mr. Lincoln will be remembered 



FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


25 


throughout all the coming generations is the practical 
emancipation of four million African slaves. His proclama¬ 
tion of emancipation was issued at the right time, and has 
produced, is producing, will produce, the results he sought 
to accomplish by it. It weakened the military power of the 
rebellion, and has destroyed all motive to future rebellion. 
Besides this, it accomplished that which was quite as grate¬ 
ful to his benevolent, freedom-loving heart, the abolition of 
a gigantic wrong—the emancipation of all the bondmen in 
the land. If he had done no more than this, he would have 
secured for himself the fairest fame it has ever been the 
fortune of a good man to win. To be regarded and remem¬ 
bered, through all coming time, as the liberator of a race,— 
to have one’s name embalmed in the memory of an enfran¬ 
chised people, and associated with every blessing they enjoy 
and every good they may achieve, is a better fame than the 
proudest conquerors can boast. We who are white know 
little of the emotions which thrill the black man’s heart 
to-day. There are no such mourners here as those simple 
souls among the freedmen who regarded Mr. Lincoln as the 
noblest personage, next to Jesus Christ, that ever lived. 
Their love is deeper than ours ; their power of expression 
less. The tears that stream down those dark faces are 
charged with a pathos beyond the power of words. 

Yet I know not why we may not join hands with them 
in perfect sympathy, for, under Providence, he has saved us 


4 



26 


president Lincoln’s 


from as many woes as he has them. He has enfranchised 
the white man as well as the black man. He freed the 
black man from the bondage of slavery, and he freed the 
white man from responsibility for it. He has removed from 
our national politics a power that constantly debauched 
them. He has destroyed an institution that was a standing 
disgrace to our nation, a living menace to our form of gov¬ 
ernment, a loud-mouthed witness to our national hypocrisy, 
a dishonor to Christian civilization. 

The destruction of the rebellion and the destruction of 
slavery are the two great achievements on which the fame 
of Mr. Lincoln will rest in history ; but no man will write 
the history of these achievements justly, who shall not re¬ 
veal the nature of the power by which they were wrought 
out. The history which shall fail to show the superiority of 
the wisdom of an honest, humble, Christian heart over com¬ 
manding and cultured intellect, will be a graceless libel on 
Mr. Lincoln’s fame. I do not know where in the history of 
mankind I can find so marked an instance of the power of 
genuine character and the wisdom of a truthful, earnest 
heart, as I see in the immeasurably great results of Mr. 
Lincoln’s administration. I should be false to you, false to 
the occasion, false to the memory of him we mourn, and 
false to the God he worshiped and obeyed, if I should fail 
to adjure you to remember that all our national triumphs of 
law and humanity over rebellion and barbarism have been 



FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


27 


won through the wisdom and the power of a simple, honest, 
Christian heart. Here is the grand lesson we are to learn 
from the life of Mr. Lincoln. You, Christian men who 
have voted, and voted, and voted again, for impure men, for 
selfish men, for drunkards, for unprincipled men, for un¬ 
christian men, because they were men of talent, or genius, 
or accomplishments, or capacity for government, and be¬ 
cause you thought that a good head was more important 
than a good heart, have learned a lesson from the life and 
achievements of Mr. Lincoln which you cannot forget with¬ 
out sin against God and crime against your country. We 
have begun to be a Christian nation. We have recognized 
•the controlling power of Providence in our affairs. We 
have witnessed in the highest seat the power of Christian 
wisdom and the might of a humble, praying man. Let us 
see that we remain a Christian nation—that our votes are 
given to no man who cannot bring to his work the power 
which has made the name of Abraham Lincoln one of the 
brightest which illustrates the annals of the nation. 

It was the presentiment and prophecy of Mr. Lincoln 
that his own life and that of the rebellion would end togeth¬ 
er, but little did he imagine—little did we imagine—that 
the end of each would be violent. But both parties in the 
closing scene were in the direct exhibition of their charac¬ 
teristic qualities. Mr. Lincoln went to the theater not to 
please himself, but to gratify others. He went with weari- 



28 


president Lincoln’s 


ness into the crowd, that the promise under which that 
crowd had assembled might be fulfilled. The assassin who 
approached his back, and inflicted upon him his fatal wound, 
was in the direct exhibition of the spirit' of the rebellion. 
Men who can perjure themselves, and betray a government 
confided by a trusting and unsuspecting people to their 
hands, and hunt and hang every man who does not sympa¬ 
thize with their treason, and starve our helpless prisoners 
by thousands, and massacre troops after they have surren¬ 
dered, and can glory in these deeds, are not too good for the 
commission of any dastardly crime which the imagination 
can conceive. I can understand their shock at the enor¬ 
mous crime. “ It will put the war back to Sumter,” says 
one. “It is worse than the surrender of Lee’s army,” says 
another. Ah! There’s the point. It severs the rebellion 
from the respect and sympathy of the world. The deed is 
so utterly atrocious—it exhibits a spirit so fiendish and des¬ 
perate—that none can defend it, and all turn from it with 
horror and disgust. 

Oh friends ! Oh countrymen! I dare not speak the 
thoughts of vengeance that burn within me when I recall 
this shameless deed. I dare not breathe those impreca¬ 
tions that rise to my lips when I think of this wanton ex¬ 
tinction of a great and beneficent life. I can hardly pray 
for justice, fully measured out to the mad murderer of his 
truest friend, for, somehow, I feel the presence of that 



FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


2 9 


kindly spirit, the magnetism of those kindly eyes, appealing 
to me to forbear. I have come into such communion with 
his personality that I cannot escape the power of his char¬ 
ity and his Christian forbearance; and the curse, rising like 
a bubble from the turbid waters within me, breaks info 
nothingness in the rarer atmosphere which he throws around 
me. If he could speak to me from that other shore, he 
would say, what all his actions and all his words said of 
others not less guilty than his assassin : “ My murderer was 
mad and mistaken, as well as malignant. He thought he 
was doing a great and glorious deed, on behalf of a great 
and glorious cause. My death was necessary to the perfec¬ 
tion of my mission, and was only one sacrifice among hund¬ 
reds of thousands of others made for the same end.” 

Ah, that other shore ! The commander-in-chief is with 
his army now. More are they that are with him in victory 
and peace than they whose names are still upon our muster- 
rolls. The largest body of the soldiers of the republic pitch 
their white tents, and unfold their golden banners, and sing 
their songs of triumph around him. Not his the hosts of 
worn and wearied bodies; not with him the riddled colors 
and war-stained uniforms ; upon his ears breaks never¬ 
more the dissonance of booming cannon, and clashing 
saber, and dying groan; but youth and life troop around 
him with a love purer than ours, and a joy which more than 
balances our grief. 



30 


president Lincoln’s 


Our President is dead. He has served us faithfully and 
well. He has kept the faith; he has finished his course. 
Henceforth there is laid up for him a crown of glory, which 
the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give him in that day. 
And He who gave him to us, and who so abundantly blessed 
his labors, and helped him to accomplish so much for his 
country and his race, will not permit the country which he 
saved to perish. I believe in the over-ruling providence of 
God, and that, in permitting the life of our chief magistrate 
to be extinguished, He only closed one volume of the his¬ 
tory of His dealings with this nation, to open another whose 
pages shall be illustrated with fresh developments of His 
love and sweeter signs of His mercy. What Mr. Lincoln 
achieved he achieved for us ; but he left as choice a legacy 
in his Christian example, in his incorruptible integrity, and 
in his unaffected simplicity, if we will appropriate it, as in 
his public deeds. So we take this excellent life and its re¬ 
sults, and, thanking God for them, cease all complaining, 
and press forward under new leaders to new achievements, 
and the completion of the great work which he who has 
gone left as a sacred trust upon our hands. 

Dr. Holland’s address was listened to with earnest—often tearful— 
attention, and at its conclusion, an impressive prayer was offered by 
Rev. Dr. Ide. An appropriate hymn, read by Rev. H. M. Parsons, 
was then sung, and the exercises of the meeting concluded with the 
benediction by Rev. William R. Clark, and the performance of 
Handel’s “ Dead March in Saul ” by the band. 



FUNERAL DAY IN SPRINGFIELD. 


31 


A GREAT OUT-DOOR MEETING. 

The crowd in the City Hall was surpassed in size by the immense 
multitude outside, which covered almost every inch of ground 
within view of the steps. The meeting was presided over by Hon. 
Stephen C. Bemis, who in a few pertinent remarks introduced 
Rev. M. P. Galligher, by whom the Catholic prayer for those in 
authority, written by the first Catholic bishop of this country, was 
read. Rev. L. Clark Seelye made the first address. He said he 
could only give expression to the common grief of which the Sab¬ 
bath stillness of the streets, the hush of business and the vast 
assemblage before him, were tokens. All honor to the president we 
loved so well; and may condign punishment rest upon the fiends 
that took him from us ! Who are the authors of this horrible crime ? 
Not simply Booth and his fellow conspirators, but the rebellion 
which has vainly struggled with the nation’s life. Treason has thus 
shown its hideous face unmasked, and whatever we may have 
thought heretofore, to-day we are united in the determination to 
hang every traitor who deserves it. (Loud applause.) Never 
since the fall of Sumter have the people been so firm in their de¬ 
votion to country as they are to-day. When men in the South who 
had been rebels heard the dreadful news, they saw what treason 
really was, and were rebels no longer. And some day, perhaps, the 
men of the South and the men of the North will journey to Lincoln’s 
grave as to a common Mecca, there to pledge anew their devotion 
to a common country. 

Rev. Mr. Seelye’s address was received with much approbation by 
the audience. After two stanzas of “America” had been sung, 
Rev* A. K. Potter was introduced, who began his remarks by an al¬ 
lusion to Washington as the father and Lincoln as the savior of his 
country. We all feel as if we had lost a friend. Lincoln was the 
friend of the lowest, and of the lowest black man. His judgment 
surpassed ours. We thought him slow, but he was wiser than we. 
His sublime common sense wrought a powerful part in the redemp- 



32 


president Lincoln’s funeral day. 


tion of the nation. Mr. Potter declared, in closing, his firm belief 
in the doctrine of predestination, and especially that Jeff Davis was 
predestined to be hung. He then offered prayer, and Mr. Bemis 
dismissed the meeting with an injunction to trust in God and un¬ 
flinchingly sustain the old flag. 


STILL ANOTHER LARGE MEETING. 

The Fenian Brotherhood, St. Jean de Baptiste, Young Catholic 
Friends’, and St Michael’s Societies, headed by the Germania Band, 
marched together to the City Hall to attend the afternoon meeting, 
but finding that they could not get even a standing place in the hall, 
went, at the invitation of the St. Jean de Baptiste Society, to its hall 
in Goodrich Block, where a large and very interesting meeting was 
held. This society being composed of Frenchmen, the management 
of the meeting was turned over to the other societies. Thomas W. 
Hines, president of the Young Catholic Friends’ Society, presided, 
and speeches were made by P. J. Ryan, president of the St. Mi¬ 
chael’s Society, David Powers, center of the Springfield Circle of the 
Fenian Brotherhood, William J. Hines, and the president of the 
meeting. All of the speakers denounced the assassination of the 
President in the strongest terms and avowed the most earnest devo¬ 
tion for the Union. In conclusion the St. Jean de Baptiste Society 
was thanked for its courtesy to the other societies, John B. Vincent 
speaking in response for that society, and the meeting broke up with 
the best of good feeling. 






































































































































































































































































. 
















Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2010 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 






















































































































